If you’re not emotional already about the death of Tony Stark, this will most definitely do it.

The home release for Avengers: Endgame will be packed full of extra goodies to entice you to pick up the DVD or Blu-ray – as if you’ll need convincing – to rewatch the goodbyes of Iron Man, Black Widow and Captain America.

And one particularly heartwrenching featurette goes back to the very start of the MCU to see Robert Downey Jr introduced as Iron Man.

In a clip from the featurette, we see director Jon Favreau explaining how keen he was for RDJ to be Tony Stark in 2008’s Iron Man – the first film of the MCU.

He says: ‘Robert had a whole career of great work behind him, and he was at a point in his life and his career where he was ready to break out and do something really big and exciting.’

However, casting director Sarah Halley Finn explains that not everyone was on board, saying: ‘Jon was in love with the idea of Downey playing the part, and we all felt so sure about him on a creative level. Because he wasn’t instantly a slam dunk approval, I suggested we have screen tests.

‘I remember walking in with Robert Downey Jr on the day of the tests. He was laughing and in great spirits and completely at ease, and he got in front of the camera and started saying the lines…’

After showing a snippet of his screentest, Downey Jr says: ‘I don’t want to call it an out of body experience, but it was one of those rushes that I’m sure somebody would feel if they’re about to play a big sporting arena. Am I gonna pass out ot am I gonna nail this?’

Producer Louis D’Esposito says: ‘On that day that Robert screentested, it was clear that there was noone else who could play that part’, with Finn adding: ‘It was magic. It was exactly the feeling as a casting director, with Kevin, with Jon, with everyone – we all wanted to have that feeling, like we have it. This is it. This is our guy.’

Don’t mind us, we’re just in tears over here.

Disney weren’t so keen on the casting of Downey Jr due to his much publicised issues – he was arrested on numerous occasions between 1996 and 2001 for drug charges, including cocaine and heroin possession and missing drug tests.

However, Downey Jr has been drug-free since 2003, and his troubled past was why Favreau wanted him for the part.

He previously told USA Today: ‘We didn’t want to just go with a safe choice. The best and worst moments of Robert’s life have been in the public eye. He had to find an inner balance to overcome obstacles that went far beyond his career. That’s Tony Stark.

‘Robert brings a depth that goes beyond a comic book character having trouble in high school, or can’t get the girl.’

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